We are settling in to life at sea. The ship is really well balanced and quiet which lends to a beautifully smooth sail. There is a doctor on board and Margaret got a patch behind her ear to ward off sea-sickness but probably didn’t need it. From departure at Ushuaia to arrival in West Point island in the Malvinas was 2 nights at sea. We were kitted out with fowl weather gear and Margaret got a dry suit for kayaking. After dinner we went to the bar each night but the max number ever there was 8. All Irish and Australian. Poor turn out generally. Not sure why that is. There are many on board in their 70’s but if I survive that long I hope to be still able to make to the bar for an after dinner drink!!

All kitted out

Our first stop was on West Point island. This stop was really used as a dry run for getting from the ship onto the Zodiacs (large dinghies that take 12 people at a time to shore). And for those that opted for kayaking to do their first run in calm waters. Margaret kayaked for about an hour and then followed the rest of us up to a Brown Browed albatross rookery, which they shared with a large group of Rock Hopper penguins. The walk up to the rookery was long and steep but badly needed after 3 days at sea.

Brown Browed albatross -loving couple

Rock Hopper penguin

We were to make a second landing that day on another of the outlying islands but the wind picked up in the afternoon making a trip onto the Zodiacs impossible for those not accustomed to launching themselves from a boat to a dinghy in heavy swells.  Basically everyone on board, apart from us.  So We took off to the sauna instead and I started trying to put some blogs together.

I am now in Stanley but the wifi is quite slow, so I’ll finish up here for now and see if I can get some photos loaded. Next stop is South Georgia.  For me, that’s where the trip really starts.

I can’t believe we are actually here.  No hiccups en route. I believe we just about made it out of Ireland 2 hours before a semi-hurricane hit.  We hooked up with John and Patricia in Buenos Aires as planned. It looks like an interesting city. Looking forward to spending a few days there on the way back. Anyway, here we are in Ushuaia. The town is bigger than I expected – population approx 60,000. It is nestled between the Martial Range mountains and the Beagle Sound.

We had an interesting landing! Close to water and mountains.

Vavilov behind me in Ushuaia

Ushuaia from the air

Our ship awaits

From what I could see, Ushuaia survives mainly on tourism. Cruise ships for the short 6 weeks or so of the Summer and skiing in the Winter months. We only had a few hours to explore the town before boarding our ship, the Sergey Vavilov. Margaret, the energetic one, set off by bus to do a walk in the Tierra del Fuego National Park. she explored the trails for 2 hours in the company of an Argentinian man, the details of which I am having trouble extracting from her!!!  John, Patricia and I set off to the other main attraction in the area, the Maritime Museum. The museum was originally a prison housed with second time offenders. In reality, it looks like this prison was set up as a means of populating Ushuaia so that Chile couldn’t get any greater foothold in the region than they already had.  This tour afforded us our first view of Antarctic wildlife – all stuffed mind you.

Margaret in National Park

Being sailors, it’s hard to get away from the concept of provisioning. So, despite the fact that we were going on a catered cruise, we still felt a compulsion to add to the huge supply of already purchased duty free. So we had a last minute dash to buy tonic, bottled water, lemons, cigarettes…. We had to draw the line when we saw Patricia heading off to the deli counter to buy cold meats.  Some of this frenetic activity was fuelled by the fact that Margaret mentioned that she had seen, on the tour company’s website, a picture of the breakfast table with a carton of orange juice plonked in the middle.  From this we deduced that we would be slumming it for the next 3 weeks. Bear in kind, we knew this was no Caribbean or Med cruise.  This was a Russian scientific ship, which as tourists we were funding.

We boarded in the evening, and as we sailed up the Beagle Channel towards the Malvinas (or Falkland Islands depending on where you stand politically), we got familiar with our new surroundings.  We were flabbergasted. Our cabin is spacious, bright, en suite, plenty of storage space and huge windows. A nice bar (although not many use it – more on that later), a really good sauna, gym, lecture theatre and 3 amazing meals a day. Not much chance of losing weight on this trip.

Settling in